There may be some circumstances under which one may wish to reduce high power transmitted or otherwise traversing an optical transmitting unit such as, by way of example and not by way of limitation, an optical fiber. Instances in which one may wish to reduce high power in an optical system may include, by way of example and not by way of limitation, to provide lower power levels for evaluation or experimental purposes or to employ a two-by-two optical switch for only one output.
One approach to reducing power from an optical fiber may be to pass the optical power across an interface with the fiber into free space or another medium so that power may be dissipated in free space or in another medium than the optical fiber. A problem with this first approach may be encountered in the form of contamination at the interface between the fiber and free space or other medium. Contamination may damage the interface surface and adversely affect transmission of optical signals.
Another approach to reducing power from an optical fiber may be to absorb power in the fiber and dissipate the absorbed power as heat in the fiber. This second approach may be a preferred approach to power dissipation of optical signals in optical transmitting units such as optical fibers. In high power optical signal handling systems one may be required to employ lengths of power dissipating structure that may counter design criteria such as a desire to construct a compact system.
There is a need for an efficient and space-saving system and method for handling an optical signal to reduce power in the signal as the signal traverses an optical transmitting unit such as an optical fiber.